People ask the question... what's a RocknRolla? And I tell 'em - it's not about drums, drugs, and hospital drips, oh no. There's more there than that, my friend. We all like a bit of the good life - some the money, some the drugs, other the sex game, the glamour, or the fame. But a RocknRolla, oh, he's different. Why? Because a real RocknRolla wants the fucking lot.

Lenny Cole is a powerful underworld figure, who, through an immense web of bribery, controls most of the land deals in London. A Russian businessman by the name of Uri seeks his services in procuring the permits to build a new stadium, which would take nearly a decade otherwise. However, their mutual accountant, Stella, is plotting to rip both of them off. With the aid of a trio of local hoodlums known as "The Wild Bunch" — One-Two, Mumbles, and Handsome Bob — she twice steals the seven million Euros intended for Lenny's payoff. The first time goes off without a hitch. The second time doesn't quite go as planned. Hilarity (and awesomeness) ensues.

In the midst of it all, is a (presumably rare and valuable) painting that holds sentimental value for Uri. It is stolen by Lenny's estranged son, Johnny Quid (the eponymous RocknRolla), and both of their respective Dragons (Victor for Uri; Archy, The Narrator, for Lenny) are following a trail of junkies and hustlers in order to find it.

Genre Savvy: Johnny Quid's speech about what would happen to him, Roman, and Mickey after they got out of the elevator with Lenny's thugs implies this trope. Or that Johnny Quid knew how his father's Mooks work. Either way, he ended up saving their asses by doing so.

Gory Discretion Shot: When Uri finds his "lucky painting" in Stella's house, the audience doesn't see what happens next, but considering he leads a branch of The Mafiya, it's probably not very nice.

Honey Trap: A mild version; Handsome Bob puts the moves on Stella's husband in order to get information about the mole who's been informing to the cops. Subverted since Stella knows about her husband's proclivities, and really doesn't care (and is, in fact, off with One-Two at the same party.)

Justified in that the Wild Bunch were using rock-salt shells, and the Russian's were wearing bulletproof vests. After One-Two hits one in the head with a two-by-four, he backs off.

Incompatible Orientation: Handsome Bob likes boys, specifically One Two. One Two really doesn't feel the same way, but he throws Bob a bone and gets over it pretty quickly.

Last Request: Well, technically Handsome Bob wasn't dying when he made of request, but since he was so devasted about the impending jail time, One-Two let him have the lovely slow dance in a gay club. When he finds out that Handsome Bob didn't go to jail after all, his colleagues tease him about this.

Made of Iron: The Russian spetznaz. They survive their car being smashed by a truck, being shot, hit with bats and golf clubs, being thrown off the the hood of a car when it crashed, and still chase after the Wild Bunch in a prolonged chase scene. Lampshaded when Butler's character asks "What are these guys made of?!"

Oh Crap!: When the Russian gangsters just will not go down, there is a great one after one of them jumps onto the car. He puts the knife through the ceiling, after which One-Two stops the car. As everyone is thrown forward, One-Two just avoids having his face cut open by the potruding knife, and his face very much says this. After they see the Russian's other hand and knife coming for them over the bonnet, the entire Wild Bunch is afflicted by this trope:

Sequel Hook: Johnny Quid drops the hint that he wants to be a REAL RocknRolla like Archy and the credits promise Johnny Quid, Archy, and the gang will be back in "The Real RocknRolla". Ritchie wrote a script for a sequel, but says that it's been sitting on the shelf while he deals with bigger projects.

Serial Escalation: On a meta level. Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels focused on working class criminals, with a less-than-a-million pound fee at stake. Snatch. was middle class and dealt with the diamond business. Here, it's about what Archy calls "the good life:" rock and roll, fancy houses, and millions of euros being thrown around.

Those Two Guys: The junkies. "Selling stolen fur coats in the middle of summer, would not seem unusual to the average junkie mind."

Title Drop: Three times, not counting Archy's dialogue in the beginning.

Too Dumb to Live: Stella, Stella, Stella. Ripping off seven million dollars from her employer once was incredibly dangerous and foolhardy (and if Uri had listened to Victor, suspicion would have fallen on her almost instantly), but then she does it again, once more only evading being traced as the security leak because Uri likes her too much to suspect her. Ironically, while her plan did get Victor waiting for a reason to act against her, what did her in was simple bad luck of accepting the painting from One Two and leaving it out where Uri could see it...although not realizing it was Uri's lucky painting if she's been working with him all this time is arguably ALSO too dumb to live.

The Unreveal: Uri's painting is never revealed. The most we can tell is that it's got a black field, glimpsed when the junkies sell it. Of course, the prop is probably just a blank, black surface.

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